Private Project

Final Straw

A detained shop lifter must choose between saving the store manager's life or escaping before the police arrive. (Created for AGBO's "No Sleep 'Til Film Fest" 48-hr film competition.)

  • Alex Smithline
    Director
  • Clara Nevins
    Writer
  • Will DeVito
    Producer
  • Wesley Diaz
    Director of Photography
  • Rory Spillane
    Key Cast
    "Patrick"
  • Matthew Arevalo
    Key Cast
    "Matthew"
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Comedy, Drama, Suspense
  • Runtime:
    3 minutes 1 second
  • Completion Date:
    October 22, 2024
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    2.35:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Alex Smithline

Alex Smithline is a New York City based filmmaker, writer, and storyteller. He is a co-founder of Another Wednesday, a production company based in NYC focused on documentaries, commercials and narrative work. His mom won’t admit it, but he is definitely her favorite.

Several of his films have screened throughout the United States, including at NFFTY, the Beverly Hills Film Festival, and SIFF. At present he is developing a feature film and cutting potatoes.

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Director Statement

A year after founding our own production company, my partners and I realized we had yet to make a project solely for us. Nothing would hold us more accountable to this goal than a deadline… a quick one. We found out about AGBO’s No Sleep Till Film Fest and set out to make a movie in 48 hours.

We gathered friends and relied on favors. Our producer Will begged his uncle to let us shoot in a pharmacy overnight. To recruit our talented writer friend Clara, we said she could wait in development hell for her screenplay to get made, or she could have a freshly written project fully produced by the end of the weekend.

On Friday at 8pm, we received our prompt: “Unlikely Alliance.” We quickly set on telling the story of a shoplifter and store manager helping each other out. By midnight, we had cast our movie, locked the script, and created a shot list.

While the actual production of “FINAL STRAW” was a blur, this came through clearly: A movie has over 100 great ideas. With this tight of a deadline, there is no way I would have been able to come up with all of them. The crew brought such smart and clever suggestions to the table, from figuring out how to rig a straw to a neck, to simulating an actual tracheotomy video.

When people ask how this movie happened, I point to the credits. The crew’s fingerprints are on every single frame you see. I am eternally grateful to get to work with them.